The retailer own label sector of the better-for-you market is worth £1.5 bn and is up 1.8% on last year.

As the largest sector with a 37% share of the market, dairy (excluding yoghurts and desserts) is a key driver of growth, outperforming total healthy own label with a 4.8% growth to £556m in the past year.

This growth has come from a variety of areas: shoppers buying more healthy own-label dairy items per trip, an increase in the number of households buying into the sector and a greater number of shopping trips being made.

Other key growth areas within healthy own label include beef and lamb, which shoppers are buying more at a higher average price, and packaged food including biscuits, rice and pasta.

Cereal and other morning goods are also strong performers, with cereal showing an 11% year-on-year increase in the number of buyers.

The fastest growing category, although still a small player overall, is healthy crisps and snacks. The category is so small that it currently sits under the title of 'other products' when examining the total healthy own-label market, and it does not appear on the table of data below. It has almost trebled in size since last year, however. This reflects the consumer's need to feel they have chosen a healthy option even when snacking.

One of the worst performers is chilled ready meals. This may, in part, be due to the public's increased desire to know what is in their food and avoid an excess of processed food.

According to Worldpanel Usage, there has also been a general increase in the time taken to prepare meals at home, suggesting some consumers are returning to scratch-cooking in favour of eating more time-saving ready meals.

Tesco dominates the healthy own-label market with a 62% share. It has a greater presence in almost all categories, but most notably in milk and cereals.

Rachel Revett, TNS Worldpanel

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